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Debbie Matenopoulos
Debbie Matenopoulos (born Thespina Matenopoulos on December 13, 1974) is an American television host. Early Life Matenopoulos was born in Richmond, Virginia, of Greek ancestry. Matenopoulos is the daughter of Efrosini, a hair stylist and Nicolaos T. Matenopoulos, a furniture maker. Her birth name is Despina Matenopoulos named after her grandmother. Despina was later Anglicized to Debbie. Matenopoulos went to John Randolph Tucker High School and then attended Virginia Commonwealth University for one year before transferring to the Journalism Department at New York University. She was a member of the women's fraternity Alpha Omicron Pi. While at NYU she also worked as an MTV intern. She quickly moved up the ranks, soon becoming story coordinator for UnFiltered. TV Career In 1997, after a chance meeting with Barbara Walters, Matenopoulos became a co-hosts of Walter's new talk show The View. She was parodied on Saturday Night Live as being uniformed ditz and eventually invited on SNL as a guest. In 1999, she was abruptly fired from the show and was replaced by Lisa Ling. Later that year, she joined the TV Guide Channel. Matenopoulos has played as Lisa Swayzak in the 2000 film Endsville and starred in the MTV Claymation show Celebrity Deathmatch as herself. In January 2004, Good Day Live brought in Matenopoulos (along with Arthel Neville) to co-host the nationally syndicated program. On September 29, 2004, Matenopoulos was hospitalized for an injury that was the results of a stunt she attempted for a Good Live Live. The segment was focus on firefighters training, in which she practiced a fall from a three-story building at a Los Angeles fire station. She landed incorrectly on an airbag and was rushed to the hospital for a possibly head injury. It was closed head wound and she was temporarily blind. Despite massive promotion, including a mall-tour featuring Matenopoulos and Arthel Neville, Good Day Live was cancelled by syndicators in March of 2005. In 2004, Matenopoulos was part of the panel of three celebrity judges (along with Morgan Fairchild and John Salley) on the TBS reality series He's a Lady. In January 2006, Matenopoulos joined E!'s coverage of the Golden Globe Awards. In April of that same year, Matenopoulos became on of the three hosts on E!'s weeknight celebrity gossip and pop culture series, The Daily 10, a position she held until August 2009. On July 25, 2006, over seven years after her last appearance on The View, Matenopoulos was invited back as a special guest co-host for a day. Matenopoulos has also been a frequent contributor to VH1 specials, including I Love the 90s and I Love Toys. Matenopoulos has also been a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race 3. Personal Life On July 5, 2003, Matenopoulos married Jay Faires, the president of music at Lions Gate Entertainment and founder of Mammoth Records. The pair separated in March 2008 and Faires filed for divorce on November 12, 2008 in Los Angeles, County Superior Court citing "irreconcilable differences". Matenopoulos eloped with Jon Falcone in Greece in the summer of 2013 and is expecting a child in late 2014. Gallery Debbiem.jpg|Debbie's clay figurine from Celebrity Deathmatch Hal judge debbie 115x275 090320041523.jpg Show Hosted Instant Beauty Pageant (2006) Shows Judges He's A Lady (2004) RuPaul's Drag Race (Season 3/2011) Shows appeared Test the Nation (as Celebrity test taker/2003) Links Debbie Matenopoulos' profile @ E! Her Official 'Twitter' page Her Official 'Facebook' page Category:Hostesses Category:Judges Category:Contestants Category:People Category:1974 Births